As you'll see in my TR, my partner and I took the advice of several people from this thread and skipped McGee Lakes altogether. Instead, we hiked nearly to Wanda Lake and crossed Davis Lake Pass. We also skipped the high bench leading to Martha Lake (couldn't be sure where it began!) Instead, we followed North Goddard Creek all the way to the floor of Goddard Canyon and followed the Canyon to Martha Lake.

We didn't do nearly as good a job as Rogue Photonic did in our route finding on Goddard Creek Pass, that's for sure! It turned into a long scary epic. We didn't climb any peaks, as we weren't anxious to confront EVEN MORE long slopes of loose rock and we were already getting tired enough and seeing incredible enough scenery. Unlike some folks, we found Black Giant Pass to be extremely easy. I guess sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't. But either way, it was an absolutely incredible journey!

“I don’t deny that there can be an element of escapism in mountaineering, but this should never overshadow its real essence, which is not escape but victory over your own human frailty.”